The Qur'ân is made up of 114
Surahs: only 27 of them were revealed in Madinah while the
remaining 87 were revealed in Makkah or some other nearby locations. It
is to be reminded that the Jews were in Madinah and the Christians were in
Najran and Yemen. There was no seat of Christianity in Mecca, in al-Hijaz
nor in Madinah as stated by Bell:

...in spite of traditions to the
effect that the picture of Jesus was found on one of the pillars of Ka'aba,
there is no good evidence of any seats of Christianity in the Hijaz or in the
near neighbourhood of Makkah or even of Madina.[1]

Dr. Nabîh Aqel, a Professor of
Arabic and Islamic History, University of Damascus, states in his book Tarîkh
al-cArab
al-Qadîm:

The big difference between
Christianity and Judaism is that Christianity unlike Judaism didn't have
any bases in Hijaz , Christianity was an external source of enlightenment
echoed in Hijaz either by missionary activities form Ethiopia, Syria and Iraq
or from Alheerah's Christian centres; dair Hind al-Kubra[the
order of Hind al-Kubra] - Um
Amro al-Mundhir[the
order of Um Amro] - Dair
Hind al-Sugra[the order
of Hind al-Sugra]) or from
some of the scattered churches in Bahrain, al-Yamamah and Yemen.[2]

Ibn Ishâq narrated also
in al-Sîrah al-Nabawiyyah,
speaking about four people from Quraysh (Mecca) who were among the generation
that preceded the Prophet Muhammad(P)
and who had abandoned their people's faith (paganism) and went in search for
their Haneefite roots.

These four men were Waraqah bin
Nawfal, cAbdullâh
bin Jahsh, cUthmân
bin al-Huarith and Zaid bin Amro who said to each other "you know that your
people had deviated from the religion of your father Abraham" and decided
to search for their Haneefite roots and they "scattered into different
countries seeking the Haneefite religion, the religion of Abraham". Ibn Ishâq
said that Waraqah bin Nawfal had converted to Christianity as a result of his
search. [3]

The migration of these four men
out of Mecca shows that the city was completely a pagan society for if there was
any significant Christian or Jewish presence in Mecca, it wouldn't be necessary
for these men to travel in search for it.

Yet another piece of evidence is
that during the period of Christian influence and power in Yemen, from Najran to
Abyssinia (Ethiopia), history narrates to us the famous attempt of a great
Christian army to conquer Mecca. This army from Yemen was supported by
elephants and was lead by Abraha, the Abyssinian. The doomed invasion
occurred in the same year that the Prophet Muhammad(P)
was born ,and later came to be known amongst the Arabs as the Year of
the Elephant. The army's aim was to vanquish Mecca, destroy the Ka'aba
(the holy shrine built by Abraham(P)
and his son Ismâcîl(P))
and then to convert the pagan Arabs to Christianity. Once this was
accomplished, they could force them to make pilgrimage to the great church named
al-Qulais that Abraha had built in Yemen for this purpose.

Ibn Ishâq
in al-Sîrah al-Nabawiyyah
under the title The Story of the Elephant said:

Then Abraha built the "Qulais"
in San'a, it was a church that people never saw its like in their time, then
he wrote to the Abyssinian king; "I built for you O king, a church that
no king had before you, and I'll not stop until I make the Hajj - that the
Arabs perform to Ka'aba - shifted to it..."[4]

Abraha worked hard on spreading
Christianity among the Yemens, he built many churches there the most important
of it all was the "Qulais" in Sana'a which the Abyssinian took as
their capital in Yemen. Abraha tried to make the Arabs to perform Hajj to it.[5]

This Christian attempt lead by
Abraha to destroy the Ka'bah corroborates that Mecca and al-Hijaz, in
general, had no Christian or Jewish influence whatsoever even until the time the
Prophet Muhammad(P)
was born. Abraha had failed in his attempt to destroy the Ka'bah and this was a
subject of a Qur'ânic Chapter as a Sign from God (Surat al-Fîl) :

Seest thou not how thy Lord
dealt with the Companions of the Elephant? Did He not make their treacherous
plan go astray? And He sent against them flights of Birds Striking them with
stones of baked clay. Then did He make them like an empty field of stalks and
straw (of which the corn) has been eaten up. [Qur'ân:
105]

Historians could not explain how
this great army of Abraha didn't reach its goals in conquering the weak- and
almost surrendered city of Mecca!!

The following provides an
excerpt from a Yemenite archaeological site that mentions, in part, this
incident. Walter W. Muller, a specialized researcher in ancient Arabian history,
under the subject Outline
of the History of Ancient Southern Arabia,
says:

Muller says: "Southern Arabia
became an Abyssinian dominion, first under the local Christian vassal
simyafa then under the former Abyssinian General Abreha (Abraha). In 542 ....
An inscription dated 547, reporting of a campaign against the rebellious Maadd
in Central Arabia (Ry 506). States that Abreha had already styled himself
king. The most recently dated inscription of the Himyarite era (CIH 325) is
from A.D. 554. It virtually marks the end of the well-documented ancient
Southern Arabian epoch and heralds the decline of the Sabeo-Himyarite
empire..... Towards the end of his reign, Abreha launched yet another
military campaign against the North which has been preserved in the memory of
the Arabs because of the elephants accompanying it. Abreha failed to take
Mecca as he had intended and the operation had to be abandoned."

Without giving any reason why
Abraha had failed in capturing Mecca even though it had surrendered!

Bernard Lewis in his book The
Middle East: 2000 Years Of History From The Rise Of Christianity To The Present
Day, writes:

Newly converted, the Ethiopians
were fervent in their Christianity and responded eagerly to Byzantine
embassies. Unfortunately for the Ethiopians, they were not able to complete
the task assigned to them. They succeeded initially in crushing and destroying
the last independent state in southern Arabia, and opening the country to
Christian and other external influences, but they were not strong enough to
maintain it. They had even tried to advance northwards from the Yemen, and
in 507 CE had attacked Mecca, a Yemenite trading post on the caravan route to
the north. The Ethiopians failed and were defeated, and a little later the
Persians came to the Yemen in their place.[6]

For further information on the
story of this Christian campaign against Mecca a reference is made in al-Seerah
al-Nabawiyyah. Below is a
pre-Islamic poem from the same source that preserved the event by a person who
had witnessed it. The poet Nufail bin Habeeb was there when the event took place
and met with the fleeing soldiers of Abraha's army who asked him the directions
to Yemen:

The poem can be roughly
translated as follows:

Greetings Rudainah
(A female name) we
have been pleased with an early morning view. We had received - a seeker of
fire - from your side
(the word Qabis is used for a person who seeks fire or wood to be used as a
source of light at night) but
he could not find anything here. O Rudainah! if you have seen what we have
seen near al-Muhasab
(a location between Mecca and Mina) you
would excuse me and not be saddened with what happened in the past between us.
I thanked God when I saw the birds and I was afraid of stones that was
thrown on us. And they
(Abraha's men) were
asking about me(to
show them the way) as
if I was owing them some previous debts.[7]

Bernard Lewis also gave a brief
summary on how al-Hijaz looked before the advent of Islam saying the weakness
that hit the empires of the north and the south lead to the state that later
came to be known to Arabs as al-Jahiliyyah (the days of ignorance).

The militant Christian monarchy
which had emerged in Ethiopia developed a natural interest in the events on
the other side of the Red Sea [Yemen]. Persians were, of course, always
concerned to counter Roman or Christian - for them, the two were much the same
- influence.

By this time even these remote outposts of Mediterranean civilization were
influenced by the general economic decline of the ancient world.... At least
part of the reason for this decline in Arabia must be sought in the loss of
interest by both rival imperial powers. During the long period from 384 to 502
CE when Rome and Persia were at peace, neither was interested in Arabia or in
the long, expensive and hazardous trade routes that passed through its deserts
and oases. Trade routes were diverted elsewhere, subsidies ceased, caravan
traffic came to an end, and towns were abandoned. Even settlers in the
oases either migrated elsewhere or reverted to nomadism. The drying-up of
trade and the reversion to nomadism lowered the standard of living and of
culture generally, and left Arabia far more isolated from the civilized
world than it had been for a long time. Even the more advanced southern
part of Arabia also suffered, and many southern nomadic tribes migrated to the
north in hope of better pasturage. Nomadism had always been an important
element in Arabian society. It now became predominant. This is the period to
which Muslims give the name Jahiliyya, the Age of Ignorance, meaning by
that of course to contrast it with the Age of Light, Islam. It was a dark age
not only in contrast with what followed, but also with what went before. And
the advent of Islam in this, sense may be seen as a restoration and is indeed
presented as such in the Qur'ân - as a restoration of the religion of
Abraham.[8]

Although the above excerpt
paints a very dark image of how the situation was in Arabia before Islam, it is
not totally true. The great amount of cultural heritage left by the Arabs of al-Hijaz
represented, for example, by their literature shows that the term al-Jahiliyyah
is not descriptive and was mainly used to mean the decline in the social/ethical
standards, but nothing else.

Furthermore; the failure of the
Christian Abyssinian army of Abraha to capture Mecca made the pagan Arabs
glorify the city even more. Mecca was mainly a pagan society that worshipped
stones and trees, yet still believed in a Supreme God. As the Qur'ân
makes clear, they believed that their false gods and idols were a means of
getting nearer to God:

Is it not to Allah that
sincere devotion is due? But those who take for protectors other than Allah
(say): "We only serve them in order that they may bring us nearer to
Allah." Truly Allah will judge between them in that wherein they differ.
But Allah guides not such as are false and ungrateful.
[Qur'ân: 39:3]

The historical evidence plus the
internal evidence of the Qur'ân proves beyond any doubt that there was no
Christian nor Jewish influence in al-Hijaz, in general, and in Mecca, in
particular. So how was Muhammad(P)
borrowing from the Bible when the non-existence of any Arabic Bible or Arabic
apocryphal sources has been proven?

Again the Qur'ân denies that
someone was teaching the Prophet(P)
and at the same time points to the fact that the language is foreign.

We know indeed that they say
"It is a man that teaches him." The tongue of him they wickedly
point to is notable foreign while this is Arabic pure and clear. Those who
believe not in the Signs of Allah Allah will not guide them and theirs will be
a grievous Penalty. [Qur'ân
16:103-104]

Had someone been teaching
Prophet Muhammad(P),
his family and close friends would have eventually known. However, far
from being skeptical about his claims to prophethood, these people gave their
wealth and lives for Islam.

In Sûrah Fussilat, the Qur'ân
explains the reason why the revelation is in Arabic. This is to make sure that
the people who were experiencing it could not make excuses.

Had We sent this as a Qur'ân
(in a language) other than Arabic they would have said: "Why are not its
verses explained in detail? What! (a Book) not in Arabic and (a
Messenger) an Arab?" Say: "It is a guide and a healing to
those who believe; and for those who believe not there is a deafness in their
ears and it is blindness in their (eyes); they are (as it were) being called
from a place far distant!" [Qur'ân
41:44]

Now
with the absence of Jewish and Christian sources in Mecca, the question remains:
who was teaching Muhammad(P)
the stories of the old Prophets and Nations which were all revealed in Mecca as
the following table shows:

Arranged
according to Qisas
al-Anbya - Stories of
the Prophets - by Imam Ibn Kathîr[10]

The only answer to the question
of who was teaching Muhammad(P)
the Qur'ân can be found in these verses [53:2-5]

Your Companion is neither
astray nor being misled. Nor does he say (aught) of (his own) Desire. It is no
less than inspiration sent down to him. He was taught by one mighty in
Power. [Qur'ân
53:2-5]

Christian missionaries attribute
to Muhammad(P)
an encyclopedic knowledge, indirectly saying that he knew all the sources -
Christian, Jewish, Zoroastrian, Hanif and ancient Arab beliefs - you name it -
before he could compile the Qur'ân. This ignores the simplest facts which
the disbelievers from among his own people acknowledged 1400 years ago- that Muhammad(P)
was an illiterate man. The following verse, for example, was revealed in Mecca
during the early stages of the Prophet's call:

And thou wast not (able) to
recite a Book before this (Book came) nor art thou (able) to transcribe it
with thy right hand: in that case indeed would the talkers of vanities have
doubted. Nay here are Signs self-evident in the hearts of those endowed
with knowledge: and none but the unjust reject Our Signs [Qur'ân
29:48~49]

The Qur'ân had answered this
accusation 1400 years ago; but all through the past thousand years were the
Christian missionaries able to provide any further evidence for their claims?

It should be kept in mind that
the Qur'ân was publicly memorized and recited by all Muslims, both during and
after the life of Muhammad(P).
If it was not clearly and widely known in Mecca that Muhammad(P)
was illiterate, the verses which claimed that he was certainly would have caused
doubts amongst the Muslims. However, not only did the Prophet's(P)
followers continue to grow - in spite of great persecution - but there is also
no record of the pagan Arabs in Mecca accusing Muhammad(P)
of not being illiterate. They instead accused him of having a tutor
or of being possessed, as previous verses have shown, since it was common
knowledge that he was illiterate.